But you have to look back to before he was born to truly understand where he is now.

It all began with his father, John Dretto, when he was a young boy. He went to East High School and started playing in bands with friends. After graduating from St. John Fisher College with a major in business and a minor in music, he worked at the former Music Lovers Shoppe and eventually took over as owner.

After working there for years, including long 60- to 70-hour work weeks, Jon was born. He knew he couldn’t work those kinds of hours as a dad, so he decided to sell the business.

But he didn’t abandon his love for music.

“I wanted him involved in music because I loved it so much,” John Dretto said. “I brought home a little electric guitar, and eventually, he started lessons at age 8.”

When Jon began taking lessons, he soon found an instant connection to the guitar. Placing his tiny fingers on the strings and strumming away on the instrument put him at ease.

“I just felt the guitar was the coolest instrument on the planet,” he said. “Every little kid wants to be a rock star.”

Then, when he was 14, he and his father heard about a contest.

That contest was the first step that led to Jon, a 15-year-old Webster Thomas High School sophomore, being signed recently as an artist by Paul Reed Smith Guitars, based in Maryland.

The company is known for manufacturing professional-level electric guitars, acoustic guitars and amplifiers. Jon’s profile appears on the company’s website, and he has been given a number of guitars and amplifiers in the hopes that he’ll be a good ambassador, especially in his demographic, for the company and their products.

In the future, he hopes to perform at national events for Paul Reed Smith Guitars.

“Music is something that is just incredible to me. It’s the way I get out how I am feeling that day,” said Jon. “Each day I play something different because I feel different.”

Early on, he gravitated to rock and heavy metal bands. His father asked him to consider looking into the blues, which at the time his son called “old people’s music.”

Much has changed since that conversation.

Jon learned the nuances of the musical genre and calls his style “nuclear blues,” which combines traditional blues with aggressive rock and roll.

When he turned 12, his dad began to take him to local jams in an effort to raise his game by playing with experienced musicians.

One day, his former middle school teacher told the Drettos about a guitar competition sponsored by a Syracuse music store and In Tune International magazine.

Jon had previously performed in similar events and wasn’t sure he wanted to again.

But in June 2012, he went, despite a little trepidation.

“Usually when you enter these contests, you play a little, people listen and it doesn’t end up going anywhere. Maybe if you are lucky, you win a prize,” he said. “But this one was different.”

The Paul Smith Reed company president, Jack Higginbotham, saw Jon perform and stayed in touch with his family. Jon also used the event to continue to launch his career, performing throughout New York and at the Rogers Center in Toronto for the 100th annual Grey Cup Gala, Canada’s version of the Super Bowl.

He also performed at Watkins Glen International NASCAR event the last two years in front of more than 10,000-plus people each time. After he performed this past year, he was signed as an artist to the Paul Smith Reed company.

He said he rarely gets overly nervous on a big stage because he feeds off the crowd.

“I have to be honest, I have always liked being the center of attention and seek it out, so being on stage is probably the most appropriate place for me,” said Jon. “When I was at Watkins Glen, you can’t really see the entire crowd because the lights are so bright on stage.

“Then you finish performing and you hear the roar of the crowd, and that is when you realize that you just performed in front of so many people who just enjoyed what you did.”

One thing that did give him some fear, though, was songwriting, something he recently began.

“It was a big hurdle starting because it was something that I wasn’t used to. I love being spontaneous and just improvising on stage, but actually sitting down and writing songs is definitely challenging.”

One of the first songs he wrote was called “Gambling Man,” which is an honest song about himself.

“It’s about how I make bets with my friends, but I struggle to hold up the end of my bargain,” said Jon. “I find that writing something personal is the best. I know I’m only 15, but I do have some experiences in my life that I think would make good songs.”

He has started taking voice lessons at Hochstein School of Music & Dance. He has dreams of making music his life’s profession, including playing all around the world, producing many albums and one day owning his own studio.

For now, he is just being a teenager, hanging out with friends, jamming with older musicians and surviving exams and pop quizzes in high school.